


Rash Actions

by Ray_Writes



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e20 Home Invasion, F/M, Not Merlance Friendly, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24702328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Feeling betrayed by Oliver's choice to protect Queen Manor from Mr. Blank instead of stopping Deadshot, John Diggle goes to the source of what he believes the problem to be: Laurel Lance, who learns the truth and realizes why her relationship with Tommy really just fell apart.
Relationships: John Diggle & Laurel Lance, John Diggle & Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen
Comments: 25
Kudos: 40





	Rash Actions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This little oneshot came about due to a discussion in the Lauriver discord a while back. In fact, a couple of us are doing our own individual riffs on the premise, with LycoX’s “Diggle’s Anger” already up and continuing to be updated on FFN. I decided to go with a oneshot version of the idea. Hopefully, you enjoy both stories. Thanks for reading!

John was so angry he didn’t think he could see straight.

Lyla was upset, Deadshot had gotten away again, and all of this wouldn’t have happened if Oliver had shown up like he’d said he would. Like he’d promised.

You didn’t break a promise to a brother. John had been raised on that, and he had always had Andy’s back while Andy had had his when he was living. He had thought he and Oliver had that understanding, too.

Yet Oliver had chosen Laurel over him. He’d felt that Laurel was in danger, so he’d rushed to her aid when she hadn’t even asked. How was that fair?

Laurel hadn’t joined Oliver's mission, hadn’t fought and risked her life the way John had. That didn’t stop Oliver from bending over backwards any time she needed anything. As far as John was concerned, he could just keep working on Laurel’s cases as the Hood and forget about John helping out any.

In fact, Laurel ought to share the same risks and burdens that the rest of them did, if she got to have Oliver’s ear.

That thought had him pulling into an empty spot along the street below Laurel’s apartment. He knew this because of all the times he’d had to be here because of Oliver. For a moment he sat in the car, gripping the steering wheel and breathing. Did he really want to do this?

Then he thought of Lawton’s smirk and the bruises on his back from when the mercenary had knocked him down. He thought of Oliver’s apology that meant nothing so long as Andy’s killer was running free. He wanted this; if he couldn’t have justice then he would have retribution.

Oliver cared about Laurel more than anyone. Maybe if she turned away from him he’d understand just how he had betrayed John tonight.

Blood pounding in his ears, he found himself outside apartment 305. John knocked, and after a moment, the door flew open.

“Tommy— oh.”

Had he been in a calmer state of mind, John might have noticed the tear tracks that hadn’t quite dried on her cheeks or the stuffiness to her voice. But Lyla had accused him more than once of having tunnel vision on the job, and so he soldiered right on.

“There’s something you need to know.”

“Okay? Um.” Laurel Lance stepped back, letting him in to just the front hallway, her hand remaining on the doorframe that wasn’t quite shut. “Is something wrong at the Queens’? Is it Ollie?”

He nearly snorted. “No. No, he’s just fine. Just killed a hit man, so he should be in a pretty good mood about now.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You know he lied to you, right?” He turned to her fully. “When you asked him if he was the Hood.”

Her mouth hung open a moment. “Mr. Diggle, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying he is,” John stated with confidence. “And because he is, because of you, my brother’s killer got away again.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, backing away slightly.

He made the effort to unclench his fists, but couldn’t keep the anger from his voice. “You never wondered why the Hood went after all those people you were prosecuting. Why he always shows up when _you_ need it? You are the reason the Hood does anything, Miss Lance, and it’s time you knew that.”

She had one hand up in front of her while the other reached for a drawer. He’d bet anything it held a gun. “Look, I’m sorry about whatever happened with your brother, but I never asked the Hood to show up, or for Oliver to- to—”

“You’re not getting it. You never have to ask.” Not like him, who’d asked and reminded and pleaded with God that Oliver would show up the longer the minutes had ticked by. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he added. “I just came to tell you the truth. You can’t be ignorant of it anymore.”

The sway she held over Oliver wasn’t something she could reap the benefits from without taking the risks, just like the rest of them. It was the best he could expect now that Lawton had gotten away.

John turned for the door but stopped, frowning as he looked around. “Where’s Merlyn, anyway?” He would have expected the younger man to have been here, but she’d thought he _was_ Tommy Merlyn at the door.

“He left,” she answered faintly. “Packed his things and left.”

John absorbed that for a moment. “Then I guess he realized the truth, too.” He left the apartment, his anger slowly receding the further he got. Oliver could deal with the fallout of Laurel Lance knowing his identity on his own. It was time he confront this whatever he had with Laurel in the open instead of watching her from afar under the protection of a hood, blinding him to everything else.

Though as John slowly turned his car into the drive outside his home, it dawned on him that depending on how the fallout played out, maybe he _would_ be affected. Laurel knew he knew Oliver’s identity. What if she brought that information to her father? What would happen to Carly and AJ if he was put away for aiding a vigilante? And what happened to the Undertaking they were trying to stop if Oliver went down with him?

He was sweating through his dress shirt by the time he shed his suit jacket inside. John ran a hand over his face, trying to hold the fog of panic at bay. What did he do?

If he told Oliver now, there was no telling what the other man’s reaction would be. And John’s pride still smarted at having been betrayed for him to go back to the base or the lush manor where Oliver lived. Did he need to start preparing a defense for a court appearance?

What about Felicity? She could go down with them as well. If nothing else, he should get the word to her. She was the most innocent of them all in this.

He grabbed up his keys and headed back out into the night. This wasn’t the kind of conversation to have over the phone just in case. And a part of him needed to see a sympathetic face, someone to reassure him he hadn’t just made the second-biggest mistake of his life.

The first being trusting Oliver to pick him over Laurel Lance.

\---

Laurel wasn’t sure how she managed to find her couch, but in the aftermath of the door slamming behind Mr. Diggle she sank onto it with shaky legs. What had just happened?

He’d looked so cold when she opened the door that she’d worried for a moment something had happened to Oliver or to his family. Had someone close to Rasmus arranged an attack in revenge for them helping her protect Taylor?

But then she’d realized that coldness held an edge of fury to it, and that fury had seemed directed at her. Laurel had backed away towards her gun, hardly believing she might have to use it against the man who had helped save her life only a few months ago when the Triad attacked, but not understanding what he was talking about for the first several moments all the same and wanting the assurance.

Then it had clicked, what he had been telling her. Oliver was the Hood.

She wasn’t sure what to feel. Betrayed, vindicated, scared, relieved? The stranger who had helped her and who she’d trusted hadn’t been a stranger at all. He was someone she cared about, going out there risking his life every night.

She thought of the terror that had seized her heart waiting in the dark of the manor as Oliver had risked going out to check on the security, or when he had disappeared in the smoke and flames at the firefighter’s benefit. He was real and flesh and blood in a way the Hood on his own hadn’t quite been. He could be hurt and struggle and even die. Even the thought of Oliver being dead again, and this time for good, was enough to make her feel as low as she had all those years before he’d come back.

Yet at the same time, she felt enlightened. All of the past year made sense in a way that had been lacking before, and to know that Oliver had been hiding who he had become on that island so that he could help others… she had always had hope there was more to him than the carefree playboy veneer he’d projected to the world trying to emulate his father. To see it realized in a way she could have never imagined was aweing as much as it was inspiring.

Though a question remained: Why had he kept it from her? She’d thought he’d been playing his hot and cold game the way he always had, and yet according to Mr. Diggle, she was Oliver’s first priority.

So why work with her only to stop? She had thought the Hood had meant he wasn’t willing to take the risks with her because of what happened on the roof with her father’s task force, not because she was important to him on a personal level.

Not because he might still...

Laurel’s heart did a strange skip and jolt. She couldn’t be thinking of Oliver that way. She had said they were over, and not without reason. And besides, she was dating — or had been dating until Tommy pulled the rug from under her what had only been half an hour ago and yet felt like a lifetime now that her world had shifted.

Tommy… Tommy knew somehow. He had been told or figured it out. _That_ was why his behavior towards Oliver had changed so suddenly, and drastically at that. He’d made no secret before that he didn’t approve of the vigilante, and learning that it was his best friend must have felt like some kind of betrayal.

Did he think she knew? Was that why he’d left her? But it didn’t make any sense.

He had been growing distant the last month, if she was being honest with herself. It had happened at the same time that he had been distancing himself from Oliver. And he had only started making noise about dating as opposed to hooking up after Oliver had been found on that island and brought home. Somehow they were linked, and Laurel could only think of one reason: Tommy’s outburst at Restaurant after their awkward double date with Helena and Oliver. _“It’s Oliver and Laurel! It always has been.”_

So what, he thought she was just going to leave him for the Hood? She had committed to their relationship, however long it had taken her to make that full leap, how could he not see that? She felt humiliated that he would assume the worst of her that way. 

Laurel had been planning to try and seek him out at his office the next day to talk things over, but a part of her didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her so upset. If he wanted to assume the worst of her, she wasn’t about to give him her best. If he wanted to be jealous of Oliver, he could do that on his own instead of dragging her into it.

The trouble was that she did want to talk to someone about all this. Simply returning to her empty bed seemed impossible when there was so much going through her head. She had as many questions if not more than the answers she had finally received. The only person who could answer them was Oliver.

Laurel stood up, grabbing a jacket and her keys. Where could she find him? The manor, maybe, but Laurel has a feeling that in the wake of whatever schism has developed between him and Mr. Diggle that he would want to be alone. So once she reached the garage and started her car, Laurel steered it towards the Glades.

It wouldn’t do any good to accuse him of anything outright. She’d tried that approach before, and he’d shut her out. Lied, according to Mr. Diggle. But she would tell him that Mr. Diggle had shown up, and that he’d said some things… let him take the conversation from there. She wanted to understand him, and it wouldn’t happen unless he felt he could trust her, fully. Laurel was done pushing; if Oliver wanted her support, he could have it, but only if he was ready to take that step.

Surely the Hood’s goals weren’t merely to make her life easier, as Mr. Diggle seemed to believe, but if she could actually work with him, Laurel was sure there was no limit to the number of lives they could change for the better. 

Laurel had always wanted to save the world, after all.

\---

Oliver sat in the quiet of the foundry, most of the lights and all the computers shut off for the night. He hadn’t felt like going out tonight, considering his team wasn’t here.

He wished Diggle could just understand. A child’s life had been on the line. That had to take precedence over Lawton. He hadn’t wanted to let his brother in arms down, but the Hood and Oliver Queen couldn’t be in two different places at once.

Diggle had done a lot for him this year, and the man felt owed. On any other night, he could have made it work. It wasn’t as if he’d enjoyed failing him. But to John’s way of thinking, apparently he had.

He couldn’t deny that Laurel being in danger along with Taylor hadn’t been on his mind. So had Tommy, and Thea and his mother. So he valued the lives of quite frankly all of his loved ones over a handful of ARGUS agents. Wouldn’t anyone?

He had let Diggle walk because the man was past reasoning with. It would have to be his decision to come back, no matter what Felicity said about apologizing. He had let Tommy walk because he had done too much to damage their friendship to expect his best friend to stay. Was he going to lose everyone he cared about?

His phone rang, and he let it. Then it rang again. Oliver sighed and reached for it. “Yeah?”

“Oliver? We kind of have a big problem,” Felicity said, and he sat up a little straighter.

“What kind of problem?”

“You’ve been exposed. Not in the sense, you know, physically, but in a figurative sort of way. Your identity’s been exposed.”

His fingers tightened around the phone. “Who knows?”

“Well, the good news is, it’s just one person,” she said, injecting false cheer into her tone. “The bad news is, it’s Laurel.”

Oliver’s heart stopped. Laurel knew. She’d discovered he was the Hood, could see him for all the horrible things he had done. “How did she find out?”

“Look, don’t- don’t be mad,” she stammered fearfully. “I didn’t have anything to do with it, and John’s really sorry—”

“ _He told her?_ ” Oliver shot up to his feet, his free hand clenched in a fist. Anger and betrayal shot through him. Revenge was the only motivation he could see John having had for doing it, sorry or not, and depending on how Laurel reacted he would be sorrier still. They were all in this boat together, and Oliver wouldn’t be inclined to try and shield his former teammate from the consequences.

Laurel seemed to believe in the Hood’s mission, but would knowing his identity compel her to follow the law? Or would she simply turn away from him the way Tommy already had? His throat tightened; their short coffee excursions and lunch breaks had become a quickly-adopted habit, and to lose that now on top of everything else felt far too much.

“What did she say?”

There was a brief pause. “He doesn’t really know. He left pretty quickly after. Oliver, I can try and start drawing up the papers to get you a false identity if you need to run, but you’re maybe going to have to contemplate dyeing your hair or growing out a serious beard.”

His phone buzzed against his ear and he pulled back slightly to check. Laurel’s name and face appeared on the caller ID. “We’re a little late for that, Felicity,” he said, then hung up. He didn’t want to keep listening to excuses or hopeless escape plans. Instead, he picked up the other call waiting for him. “Hello?”

“Ollie.” Laurel’s voice was hard to make out over loud music and people. His eyes drifted up towards the ceiling. “Your bartender says you’re in your office.”

“Yeah.”

“Mind if I join you there? There’s something I need to ask you about.”

She was giving him an out, surprisingly. Maybe she just hadn’t believed Diggle. But no, John would’ve made his point quite clear. “I’ll meet you at the bar,” he decided, heading for the stairs.

Oliver slipped through the door out into the club, Laurel’s eyes already on him. She’d made sure to position herself where she could see him come up, and he had a feeling she’d guessed as to the real reason Tommy had bribed the building inspector. 

Oliver drew up to her side, observing her carefully. She looked calm, all things considered, though her eyes remained slightly red as though she had been crying recently. Had learning the truth about him done that? “Hey.”

“Hey.”

His eyes darted around the room. No one looked out of place or staged; this definitely wasn’t some kind of setup arranged by her father. Laurel had come here alone.

It begged the question of _why_ was she alone. Wouldn’t she have had Tommy to talk to about this? Knowing the kind of unfavorable things Tommy would be likely to say right now made his stomach turn, and he was a little glad Laurel was here with him instead.

“Mr. Diggle visited me tonight,” Laurel told him, her eyes watching his face. “You don’t seem all that surprised.”

“I may have heard something about that,” he replied evasively.

“I had a few follow-up questions,” she continued.

Oliver had two choices: deny, and risk pushing Laurel away further even to the point of her going to someone else with her suspicions, or finish the job Diggle had done of pulling the curtain back. Laurel had come to him, not to her father. She wanted to listen.

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t. But those probably are better for my office.” He gestured with one arm and she left the bar with him, sticking close to his side as they headed to the back wall and the keypad. Laurel had the grace to look away as he entered in the code, the lack of presumption there giving him some hope.

Oliver opened the door, and together they walked down the steps. He watched her as she gazed around, taking in everything from the computers to the training equipment to his box at the far end. Oliver was a little pleased to note the amazement in her eyes.

“How did you move all of this stuff before my dad came down here?”

“You’d have to ask Tommy.”

Laurel’s mouth twisted into a frown he didn’t quite understand, and he was left even more confused when she replied, “Something tells me I wouldn’t get an answer.” Before he could ask, she turned to face him. “From what I could tell, Mr. Diggle talked to me about this not because he thought it would be in your best interest.”

The reminder of Diggle’s actions in this soured his mood. “No. I think he hoped it would ruin— well, that it would cause you to not want to be around me.”

Laurel took that in silently for a moment. “Well, he was wrong. And I don’t believe what he said about you doing all of this for me either.” Oliver blinked, and she nodded as if confirming something. “This was your plan all along coming back. You would have had to have everything ready to go before you even knew I was prosecuting Adam Hunt.”

“Yes. Diggle… he feels you distract me, I guess, from what I have been doing as the Hood. There was something he wanted my help on the other night, but I couldn’t be there.”

“Because you were protecting Taylor.” When Oliver nodded, Laurel said, “Then I’m not sure why he expected me to be angry with you.”

“I lied to you, Laurel. That was reason enough for Tommy to be upset,” he admitted.

Yet what she said next shocked him. “Tommy’s been upset with you for a lot longer than he knew you were the Hood. Learning the truth has only given him what he feels is a real reason.”

“Did you two fight about this?” He couldn’t see why else Tommy would have let Laurel come here alone or why she seemed more hurt with her boyfriend than with him.

“Not exactly. He packed his bags today and left before I had the chance to know what it was we were fighting about.”

Oliver’s eyes squeezed shut. “I told him he didn’t need to worry.”

“What, about me falling in love with you?” Laurel took his silence as answer enough, for she continued, “I think the mistake you both made was that it was ever up to either of you who I held feelings for or what I chose to do with them.”

He slowly lifted his head back up to meet her steely gaze. “You’re right.”

She softened just slightly. “Thank you for trying to reason with him. But this whole thing with him and me… I can see now that he was just jealous of you. And I don’t want to be with someone who thinks of me as territory to win.”

Oliver nodded slowly. Tommy’s paranoia about Laurel learning his identity had cost him, more so than Laurel actually learning his identity. “That’s fair.”

She walked a little ways from him, her hand trailing along the table where his newly sharpened arrows sat on their stand. “So why did you decide to do this? You must have had enough violence on that island.”

He smirked lightly. “Maybe, but I see it as preparing me for what I needed to do here. My father asked me to right his wrongs before he died.” He guided her over towards the List where it sat next to the keyboard. “And it happened that a number of the people committing those wrongs matched up pretty well with a certain lawyer’s caseload.”

She reached out to the book slowly, giving him plenty of time to pull it away if he wanted, but he let her open it and scan the first few pages. “How did he come up with this list?”

“I don’t know the whole story yet. But I’ve been putting the pieces together. I never thought I’d be explaining all of this to you,” he said, unable to hide some of the vulnerability he was feeling. “I never thought you or my family would become part of this.”

He had told himself he would keep them separate and safe. Look how well that had worked.

“Well, like you said, we’ve had a bit of overlap,” she pointed out. “I don’t see why we can’t work together on this, Ollie. I mean, no rooftop meetings interrupted by SWAT teams, no corrupt cops learning I work with the Hood. There’s so much more we could do together now that you’re just a regular phone call away.”

Her eyes were shining the way they had so many years ago when she’d been talking about their lives together, lives of a far different kind. A sheer excitement for the future that seemed to light up the room. He could appreciate it better now than he had then.

“You would want that?”

“I already wanted it before I knew who the Hood was. That hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s easier knowing I put my faith in the right person.”

He shook his head. She never failed to amaze him. That he could be someone she would still want to trust was more than he deserved. “Then welcome to the team.”

She smiled brightly for a moment. “The team being…?”

“Uh, well, it was Diggle,” he said, perhaps needlessly. “But I’m going to have to talk with him.” It didn’t matter that this was going better than his dreams; they couldn’t keep going back and forth with these betrayals and hurt feelings. “Felicity Smoak is our tech specialist. She works at Queen Consolidated during the day. And that’s pretty much it.”

“Simple enough. What happens now?”

“Nothing tonight. I was still doing research on which name to go after next.”

“I could take a look through the office files tomorrow to see if anything matches up,” she offered.

“It probably will.” CNRI was a good indicator for just who was doing the most immediate harm to Starling’s vulnerable. “Thank you.”

“All you ever had to do was ask, Ollie,” she told him, but he didn’t have much time to worry if she was perhaps upset by his lies because she stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

He felt his heart swell as he folded her into his arms in return. This mission wasn’t about receiving gratitude or credit; but he had come home with the goal of making things right by Laurel. Knowing she supported him in his efforts to save the city was worth more than she likely knew.

Laurel left soon after, as the night was getting long, and Oliver returned to the manor to catch some sleep, more peaceful than it had come in a while. He rose the next morning and had only finished dressing after his shower when a knock sounded on his bedroom door. “It’s open.”

He was only mildly surprised to see a shamefaced John Diggle enter. “So, I’m guessing she’s decided she’s… okay with everything?”

“Laurel? Yeah, she took it pretty well, all things considered.”

“Look, Oliver, there’s no excuse for what I did.”

“There really isn’t,” he agreed, his voice tight.

“I was just — for years, I’ve tried to bring in Andy’s killer. You gotta understand that for me, it’s something that’s eaten away under my skin all that time. My marriage couldn’t withstand it.”

Oliver stared in shock. “I never knew you were married.”

“It was in Afghanistan. We never really got it finalized back in the States before it fell apart,” his friend said gruffly. “The point is, I know that about me on some level, but I can never just shut it off in the moment. It doesn’t mean I should’ve involved Laurel.”

Oliver thought over his words carefully. “The other night, you accused me of putting Laurel ahead of you, ahead of the team. That’s not going to be a problem anymore since she’ll be joining the team. Her goals are our goals and our goals are hers from now on.”

By his tone, he did his best to make it clear that this was not up for debate. John nodded. It was about all he could do, seeing as he had caused the events leading to Laurel joining their group in the first place.

“You have this issue with Deadshot, John. And you’ve admitted yourself that you put it before everything else.” When that received no objection, he continued, “I will continue to offer my help to you in catching him when I can, but you need to understand right now that protecting the life of any man, woman or child in this city will always be my first priority. I came home to repair the damage my father did to my home, not to hunt bounty.”

“I understand,” John said, his eyes on the ground.

“Do you? I’m serious, Digg, because we got lucky with Laurel.” He couldn’t believe just how lucky he was she had accepted him for his true self. “I cannot work with you if the minute I do something that you find upsetting, you betray my confidence.”

“It won’t happen again. The minute I got home, I realized just how badly I could’ve screwed up. I didn’t sleep the whole night,” Diggle told him.

“Then there isn’t anything left to say on the subject.” He wasn’t going to belabor the point. What was done was done, and so long as the mission continued he would be sure to keep a close watch on Diggle to head off a second infraction and to remove him from the team if necessary.

Digg seemed relieved to have the discussion over with, and he backed up towards the door. Oliver tensed as the other man paused a moment. “Laurel said something that night about Tommy leaving. You know anything about it?”

“They’ve separated,” he confirmed shortly, knowing it would be impossible for Diggle not to learn that once he and Laurel were spending time in the foundry together.

“What are you gonna do about it?”

Oliver only shook his head. The days where he would have accepted all Diggle’s advice about Laurel or any other women were over. He couldn’t ignore the bias any more, even just to maintain the peace.

It wasn’t for him to do anything either. Laurel had to know how he felt, but she had just exited a months-long relationship with one of their oldest friends. He would leave it up to her to indicate if and when she acknowledged his feelings for her, much less what she felt for him. And it was a private matter, not something he was going to gossip about with Digg and Felicity. Those days were over, too.

Diggle seemed to understand, for he nodded once and left the room. Oliver had a feeling that things could end up being strained between them for some time. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t let go of the thought that, had Diggle told the wrong person, they would all be sitting in a holding cell right now. No amount of Laurel’s arguments could have saved him from law in that case.

Now she would be breaking it with them. He hadn’t wanted to involve her that way, but he couldn’t deny the ease to his shoulders and the smile that started to grow on his face as he thought of her down in the base with them later tonight. He had missed her in all aspects of his life, and now those barriers were no longer there.

Perhaps, in the end, he might even thank John.


End file.
